I have almost come to dread night time, when I’m trying to sleep and laying quietly in bed. I am two weeks post-op, off the assistance of opioids and still on crutches. The events of the day and the lack of distractions have me feeling the most pain and nerve prickles, making it difficult to sleep or rest easy. In my case, my pain is not a sign of more serious problems like infections or blood clots (always talk to your doctor about your pain and discomfort levels).
However, night time is still hard. I was very chatty with my husband and he said finally, “I have to get some sleep”, and I realized as long as I kept talking I was distracting myself from the pain in my foot. Whenever I find myself doing something like this without a lot of intentional thought, I take a minute to journal or talk to my coach about it and get some awareness. This practice lets me get from “I didn’t know I was even doing that” to “this is how I want to go through this experience”.
I have created a mantra for this time of night: The Best Way is Through.
In my case, I have been advised that the nerve tingles are necessary. The sensations are my brain and foot figuring it out. If I were to dull that with pain serious opioids I could be interrupting an important process. If I were to drug myself to sleep I could be overriding my body and delaying my healing. So, even though I do not like feeling pain and prickles, The Best Way for me right now is not to go ‘over it’ or ‘under it’ but through it. "The Best Way is Through”. My little mantra does a lot for my mental health:
It acknowledges that the pain and prickles aren’t for nothing. My body is healing.
It acknowledges it won’t always feel this way and I will be done with these sensations eventually (there is a ‘through’)
It acknowledges that I am choosing to feel pain and prickles instead of completely numbing out because I understand the consequences.
This mantra may not work for you in your situation, but what will help you in your experience with surgical recovery is the awareness and introspection regarding you thoughts, behaviors or pain management. Mantras are only helpful because of the thoughts behind them and the most powerful are the ones you come up with yourself. I no longer feel dread about night-time. I changed suffering into strength. My recovery is better because of small changes like these adding up. If you are reading this before having surgery, it is experiences like these that you will not even know you will have but having a coach on board is so helpful for.
How we think about the pain/discomfort we are feeling is so important. If you would like this kind fo relief for your surgery and recovery, I invite you to work with me! Schedule a free consultation and let’s talk about healing better.
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